Need a professional photographers wisdom from the film days

[PKR]

That's one chilling image, PKR

I remember reading that in the 90s, PJs would just stock up on Fuji Press 400/800/1600 color negative films, and purchased them by the bricks

My very amateur dad needed a 120 spool when he was out, saw a pro at this event, and figured he'd ask. The look of horror my (very frugal) father gave when the photographer opened up a new roll, pulled the film off and gave him the spool.

Chilling? Those people were pretty happy. They left a bad place and moved to a safe one.

Color positive films were generally preferred as they saved a step in the plate making process. I don't know anyone who used color negative back then for magazine work. B&W prints were delivered or made by the photo editors folks, also a positive image. The only magazine I was familiar with back then using Kodachrome was NatGeo. There may have been others. Geo I think, also used Kodachrome.

When I left the PJ world, I switched almost completely to Kodachrome for 35mm color and Plus-X for B&W. When using a 4x5 it was Ektachrome and FP-4. But, my view camera use was rare.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frequent_Wind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Babylift

 

[GarageBoy]

Chilling in a way where it's a bunch of people dropping everything they know to a new place with minimal belongings. Makes me sad to think of those that didn't get to leave.

 

[emraphoto]

That's one chilling image, PKR

I remember reading that in the 90s, PJs would just stock up on Fuji Press 400/800/1600 color negative films, and purchased them by the bricks

My very amateur dad needed a 120 spool when he was out, saw a pro at this event, and figured he'd ask. The look of horror my (very frugal) father gave when the photographer opened up a new roll, pulled the film off and gave him the spool.

I miss Fujipress. I had bricks upon bricks of short rolls in my freezer for quite some time.

Eventually I moved to CONTAX G’s as they could rewind with a leader out. Write fame numbers on can with a sharpie and Shazam!

 

[PKR]

I miss Fujipress. I had bricks upon bricks of short rolls in my freezer for quite some time.

Eventually I moved to CONTAX G’s as they could rewind with a leader out. Write fame numbers on can with a sharpie and Shazam!

Hi John,

What is Fuji Press Film? Is this a negative stock that was made for Citex Scanning in the Press Room?

By 1980 I had no connection with any kind of news work. Work For Hire drove me off. One friend who did a lot of work for SI used Ektachrome, often the fast emulsions. I guess, I missed a whole film era ?

Luce pushed WFH on all "non employees" as quickly as he could. Many moved on to other things. I went knocking on Graphic Designer's and Ad Agency's doors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_for_hire

 

[Doug A]

When I was the "sports photographer" for my high school I was told to meter the turf in the shade and open one stop. The overexposure latitude of the Tri-X we were all using would take care of the rest. This was with a prism finder Nikon F and 105/2.5 Nikkor. One camera, one lens, one film and one exposure setting for the whole outing.

 

[PKR]

When I was the "sports photographer" for my high school I was told to meter the turf in the shade and open one stop. The overexposure latitude of the Tri-X we were all using would take care of the rest. This was with a prism finder Nikon F and 105/2.5 Nikkor. One camera, one lens, one film and one exposure setting for the whole outing.

My friend, John McDermott and I have been friends since the 70s. He did/does a lot of Sports Photo work. He owns a lot of really long fast lenses and mastered portable studio lighting early on. It's a different world from the work I did. My longest lens, that I used a fair amount, was a 400 f5.6. My most used lenses with film were a 35 and 50.

https://www.mcdfoto.com/Sport/Soccer/2/thumbs

 

[GarageBoy]

In my PJ days, if the lighting was so different that an increase or decrease of a stop or two wouldn't solve the problem, I simply removed the partly exposed roll and put a new one in marked for a push or pull in my D76 processing.

I used a couple of bodies, sometimes 3, two Nikons with lenses that weren't changed much and sometimes, an M body with a 35. Almost always Tri-X or sometimes Plus-X but, always the same film in all cameras so I didn't have to think about it.

I didn't use flash much except when working in color. Color for news mag work was always Ektachrome.. for quick processing.

I've been going through my stuff now that I'm retired. I found this one recently. A rare use of flash with color film at night. It was the only light available.

Vietnam Airlift, The Fall of Da Nang 1975 both cameras loaded with Ektachrome.

Hi John,

What is Fuji Press Film? Is this a negative stock that was made for Citex Scanning in the Press Room?

By 1980 I had no connection with any kind of news work. Work For Hire drove me off. One friend who did a lot of work for SI used Ektachrome, often the fast emulsions. I guess, I missed a whole film era ?

Luce pushed WFH on all "non employees" as quickly as he could. Many moved on to other things. I went knocking on Graphic Designer's and Ad Agency's doors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_for_hire

Fuji Press was the "pro" version of Superia
https://web.archive.org/web/20070804170707/http://www.vividlight.com/articles/2213.htm

 

[Dogman]

Two to three bodies on body, another one or two in the car's trunk.

I still feel uncomfortable with only one camera.

 

[KM-25]

For most color PJ work I shot multiple bodies with two different speed films if I had to at all, usually Fuji Press 400 for 90% of what we needed and then in the mid to late 90's, Fuji Super G 800 which pushed nicely to about ISO 2000.

For commercial work it was all chrome in medium format so it would be Provia, Velvia and tungsten.

Today I don't shoot color film anymore so it is always Tmax 400 in my 35mm bodies and whatever I want or need in 120, 4x5 and 8x10. I have 14 A-12 film backs for my Hasselblad system and countless holders for LF work all color coded to denote the type of film they usually have in them.

But in regards to my use of Tmax 400 in 35mm, I shoot it at ISO 800 so it bridges the gap nicely from full sunlight in a Leica at 1,000th of a second at around F11 to as low a light as I can hand hold wide open.

But yeah, some short rolls if using chrome, multiple bodies in 35mm and multiple backs and holders in the larger formats.

 

[ktmrider]

I worked as a newspaper photographer for a daily in northeastern Ohio in 1973/4. It was a black and white only paper and I was the only photographer. We covered seven counties, I was 21 years old and had a blast. And discovered I did not want to pursue photography as a career.

Everything was TriX, usually bulk loaded. Normally, I carried two Nikon F's with a 24 on one and a 85 on the other. Subjects were everything from portraits of local VIP's, feature and human interest and high school/college sports.

Everything was manual focus (no auto focus for another ten years). Night sports were a challenge. For football, my standard lens was a Nikon 180f2.8 shot wide open using a shutter speed of 1/250 pushing TriX to 1600/3200 and printing on Number 5 or 6 contrast paper. For basketball, either the 85 or 24 depending on distance from the basket but minimum shutter speed was always 1/250 and pushed TriX.

I usually got useable imagines for the paper. Of course, newspaper reproductions are not exactly high resolution or high art. Focusing was all reflex. I tried photography a few years later shooting a night sports event with a friend on the Louisville COURIER JOURNAL. I discovered I always took the sports photo a bit after the "decisive moment" and usually just a bit out of focus. Had lost my timing by then. I think it moved into the motor skills I needed as a pilot.

And I am lucky to have kept my hand in since but I will admit to being fascinated more with the equipment and process then the actual photographs. Which is probably why I did not pursue it as a career.